Why an eBay listing may be my greatest legacy
I will leave behind a lovingly crafted product listing for a coffee machine. Feel free to use it. A quick copy and paste should do the job. No, no, I insist. Please go ahead. Be my guest says Gill Booles. Once I’ve joined the coffee grounds, it’s likely to be my greatest legacy. My words will live on in countless active listings in cyberspace. You see I couldn’t bring myself to lift the manufacturer’s descriptor or another eBay listing. Copy the specification from a catalogue or shop website,...
Web copy aftercare offered for purely selfish reasons
For this copywriter the beauty of websites is that they’re so easy to update. Accepting changes to her copy after handover is perhaps harder. Submit samples of your work, it says. No problem. And then my fingers freeze over the keyboard. Faced as I am with the ‘box of death’ -- the blank space intended for the URL. Last week it happened again. Invited to submit a proposal I was merrily uploading print samples on the procurement portal. Then it came the turn of web projects. Well, here we go I...
Do we need a national Consume Content Day?
The average UK household* has more than 43 hours worth of TV programmes waiting to be watched. We’re acquiring more and more content, and increasingly unwilling to part with it. Hoarding content is a hidden problem. We’ve all seen the TV programmes. The house overrun with rubbish, a warren of tunnels through old newspapers stacked to ceiling height, the occupant forced to sleep in an armchair, adamantly refusing to get rid of the clutter. At least there is a limit to how much can be stored –...
‘Like’ my Facebook page: Peel me a grape
Well boo hoo, poor you. I didn’t realise you were finding giving to charity so hard. Of course I’d love to help. I’ll head over to Facebook right now and ‘like’ your page. Shall I peel you a grape while I’m there? Assuming you could you be bothered to eat it. This brand amazes me. It knows a lot about healthcare according to the TV advert, before telling me to: “Like us on Facebook. For every ‘like’ we’ll make a donation to charity.” Giving doesn’t come without my cooperation it seems. They...
Why Lance can’t be trusted: A shifty point of view
If you want the sense of truth that comes from an eyewitness account you use the first person. The story is told by the main character from their point of view, and we stay inside the head of someone intimately involved with the events. He can explain his actions and motives. Which is presumably why Lance Armstrong chose not to. In the Oprah Winfrey interview he refers to himself in the third person: “The leader of the team, the guy that that my team-mates looked up to”. For years he’s been...
This copywriter’s addictions: Just one more interview, I swear it’s the last
Writing this blog is displacement activity. Humour me if you will. For I fear that whilst I am ‘with article’ there’s a serious risk of relentlessly pursuing contributors like a pack of hounds running a fox to ground. If the phone rings, don’t answer. It will be me, calling to ask your opinion for this piece I am writing. Sometimes it’s difficult to know when to stop. Writing this post forces me to step away from the email and leave the phone alone. “I know what this feature needs, another...
Why 2013 is a skip year, not a leap year
We’re used to leap years, but what about skip years? The general opinion is that 2013 is a year to skip – here in Scotland the plan seems to be to keep our heads down and get through the year with the focus on the build up to 2014 (Commonwealth Games, independence vote). Others are calling it the Empty Year. Go visit empty13 to find out what advertising and media industry types think about 2013 - fascinating insight, many ideas, plenty of predictions and lots of ‘big data’ (winner of the 2012...
Past perfect content. Why it’s all just a little bit of history repeating
You look back. You look back to the start of the year when plans were being drawn up. Back when it all seemed so simple. It is simple. Well no perhaps that’s a tad simplistic, if ‘it’ is life. I’m not a lifestyle guru. There are many other blogs which will promise that life should be simple. I’m just offering you hope, to shape your content in the New Year. Content is simple. Stop over analyzing. Or rather make sure you analyse the right things. Study past projects – look at the metrics (the...
A website is for life and not just for Christmas, unlike the content
“You’ll soon be able to visit us using the new tram service” the restaurant promises on its website. Yeah, good luck with that. The Edinburgh trams may be delayed but you could say that the directions showing how to get to the restaurant will be correct one day. Even a stopped watch is right twice a day. The beauty of websites is that they’re so easy to update. The problem is that they seldom are because they rely on non-technical parts i.e. humans. As we try and get all our work done by...
Why you need to treat me as an individual not a target audience
I have a confession to make. I have never prepared a Xmas dinner. I prefer cheese to chocolate. I only own a couple of pairs of shoes. My shopping trips consist of darting into a store to buy the item I’ve previously identified online. No, I am not a man. But at this time of year I have much in common with men. You see I am difficult to buy for. Let me re-phrase that. I am difficult to sell to. Advertising used to be about how many people you could reach. TV has the biggest audience reach....